Don Morgan is a civic-minded guy who pitches in wherever he is needed, including "two or three terms" on the board of the Canby Parks and Recreation District, an agency that has no money.

When friends told him that no one was running for a vacant Canby Fire District board seat, he filed on the last day to run for that, too.

"They asked me if I would run," said Morgan, 67, who lives southeast of Canby. "They said they wanted someone on the board who didn't have an ax to grind ... so I agreed to run."

Morgan's move in the name of public service, however, has gotten him booted off the ballot entirely.

About a week after filing to run for the recreation and fire district boards, he got a call from the Clackamas County Elections Manager Steve Kindred, informing him that state law prohibits running for two district offices in the same election.

"That's kind of a dumb rule," Morgan said. "You don't get paid for either one, and there's no conflict between them."

Kindred said elections workers noticed the dual filing when checking proposed ballots. "This had never come up before," Kindred said. "So we called the Secretary of State's Office."

That's when Brenda Bayes, the state's deputy elections director, advised Clackamas County on a distinct, but rarely invoked section of Oregon's elections law, ORS 249.013(4)(a): "No person shall be a candidate for more than one district office to be filled at the same election."

"I had no idea," Morgan said. "Now nobody is running for either seat."

But that may not be the end of the story.

"So here's the wrinkle," said Tony Green, Secretary of State's Office spokesman. "Morgan got booted off both ballots. But he could, in theory, end up serving on both boards if he wins on write-in campaigns."

Morgan just laughed at the idea.

Former Gov. Barbara Roberts didn't laugh. Roberts, a Portland Democrat, once served on the Parkrose School Board, Mt. Hood Community College Board and in the Oregon Legislature -- all at once. The difference? She didn't run for those seats in the same elections.

"I was serving at three elected positions at the same time," Roberts said. "It seems that if you can serve at the same time, you would be able to run for election at the same time. It never occurred to me that you couldn't."